Thaddeus Rex

Thaddeus Rex is the creator of Read Like a Rockstar. A nationally recognized writer and educator, he's won more than 20 writing awards, including a Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and James Patterson's PageTurner Award.

Thaddeus’s career began in college when he had the opportunity to join the cast of the Emmy Award Winning PBS Kids show, ‘The Friday Zone’. This lucky event jumpstarted a career that’s been hailed “a sincere celebration of reading” (LA Times) and “part Monty Python, part Dr. Seuss” (Washington Post).

Obsessed with the idea of using entertainment to teach, Rex delved into the psychology of learning and discovered engagement and curiosity are proven keys to increasing motivation. What better way to engage, excite and develop student curiosity than the dream of becoming a rock star. The “Read Like a Rock Star” program was born. Demand grew rapidly and Thaddeus made the tough decision to leave PBS to focus on the program, which has since inspired over a million students across America.

After observing the program’s effect on students, teachers began requesting a program of their own to learn the steps for maintaining student enthusiasm. Due to overwhelming demand, Thaddeus headed back to the drawing board where he developed the Inspire Like a Rock Star training program to help adults become rock star motivators.

Interested by current research on motivation and how it can affect reading comprehension, Thaddeus has begun a new project, working with researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Rochester to see how the standardized testing environment might be improved.